Hi,

I read in the lenovo manual that the max storage for SATA is 2TB and m2 nvme ssd is 1TB - can anyone confirm? I was looking to get 4TB SATA SSD and 2TB NMVE to upgrade.

My laptop model is Y540 15-IRH 81SX

copied from the manual:

Storage Support
Up to two drives, 1x 2.5" HDD + 1x M.2 2280 SSD or 1x 2.5" HDD + 1x M.2 2242 SSD
• 2.5" HDD up to 2TB
• M.2 2242 SSD up to 512GB
• M.2 2280 SSD up to 1TB

Thanks for your help！

Hello @felixthecat1011 ,

Welcome to the Community Forums.

The storage capacity that is provided in our specs list/PSREF page is only the maximum tested amount.

In theory it is possible to exceed that amount, for example some manufacturers like Crucial tested their 2TB SSD to still be compatible with the Y540.

Link here: https://www.crucial.com/compatible-upgrade-for/lenovo/legion-y540#ssd

I would suggest contacting the manufacturer of the SSD or HDD you wish to purchase if you would like to test out exceeding the recommended values.

Hope this helps.
Regards,
Jack_Lenovo1

I would recommend you to ensure the internal SSD (NVMe) is SINGLE sided.  Most of them come in double sided which either might not fit in the slot (the NANDs and chips on back side will likely be blocked and cannot be pushed down completely) or the heat is more (compared to single sided) than the chassis is designed.

In general speaking:

- Single sided NVMe SSD is suitable for desktop or laptop.

- Double sided NVMe SSD is suitable for desktop in most (if not all) cases.

In addition, NVMe SSD generates more heats than SATA HDD (whether it is mechanical or SATA SSD).  Therefore, you might want to review the product's heats review / test by Googling.  I own a Y540 myself, the location of the SSD is not near the fans area, unlike 5i series, which I believed Y540 will not get much ventilation (air movements) with most of the heat trapped nearby.

FYI: I tried Crucial P5 1TB.  The result was not good, even though they said it fine for Y540 on website.  I will post my experiences in details when I completely finished with my results.  For now, you need to know the following:

- 96 layers NAND is slightly thicker than 64 layers which you need to know (at the time of Y540 design, most were produced in 64 layers); this can affect how thermal pad is used with chassis (0.75mm vs 1mm thick thermal pad - rough estimation based on my experiences).

- Crucial P5 generates a lots of heats, although I found the one I returned were defective, I founded the heats is so high that the SMART data recorded thermal throttling in the SSD.

I am currently (in process of) trying out WD Black SN750 1 TB.  As said, I will post later when more results are on hand.

Hope this help.  This is community forum and I am an user like yourself.

You should obtain technical support through Lenovo service center as the main resources.